On Political Parties in Contemporary Democracies: From the classic perspective to the current debate

The crisis of political parties in contemporary societies and democracies is composed of differ-ent points of views, that require a joint effort for social and political science to try to understand the changing relationship between citizens and parties. Compared to the political mass models, which are typ-ical of the second half of the twentieth century, parties undergo deep processes of transformation. The beginning of a critical season for the traditional forms of political organization goes back to those years; and this critical season can be configured as ideological, organizational and institutional. Between the twentieth and twenty-first century, the political parties has strengthened the structure of their political organization and the weight of their parliamentary activities within the institutions, becoming more and more «state-centered parties», characterized by the progressive reduction of the forms of territorial set-tlement and the growth of the importance of central organisms and the representatives of the assemblies, especially those elected in national parliaments. This results in significant changes of the organizational model and their political functions. In the face of these changes, will the parties still remain a key player for the functioning of contemporary democracy? We will focus on three fundamental steps: the analysis of the creation process of parties and of their function; the description of the most recent perspectives in political parties; the analysis of the relationship between the personalisation of politics and the passage to leader democracy

On political parties in contemporary democracies. From the classic perspective to the current debate.

The crisis of political parties in contemporary societies and democracies is composed of different points of views, that require a joint effort for social and political science to try to understand the changing relation-ship between citizens and parties. Compared to the political mass models, which are typical of the second half of the twentieth century, parties undergo deep processes of transformation. The beginning of a critical season for the traditional forms of political organization goes back to those years; and this critical season can be configured as ideological, organizational and institutional. Between the twentieth and twenty-first century, the political parties has strengthened the structure of their political organization and the weight of their parliamentary activities within the institutions, becoming more and more «state-centered parties», characterized by the progressive reduction of the forms of territorial settlement and the growth of the im-portance of central organisms and the representatives of the assemblies, especially those elected in na-tional parliaments. This results in significant changes of the organizational model and their political func-tions. In the face of these changes, will the parties still remain a key player for the functioning of contem-porary democracy? We will focus on three fundamental steps: the analysis of the creation process of par-ties and of their function; the description of the most recent perspectives in political parties; the analysis of the relationship between the personalisation of politics and the passage to leader democracy

Senso, ritmo, multimodalità. Uno studio comparativo dei processi traduttivi nelle lingue dei segni (LIS e LSF)

La presente tesi di dottorato analizza i processi traduttivi nelle lingue segnate, indagando la maniera di (re-)enunciare il senso in traduzione. La riflessione si costruisce come dialogo fra la linguistica delle lingue segnate e la traduttologia, a partire da presupposti teorici comuni a entrambe le discipline benché differentemente declinati, come il concetto di oralità. Lo studio, che intende definirsi come non assimilazionista (così come auspicato da C. Cuxac), tiene conto delle peculiarità proprie delle lingue segnate, fra cui le caratteristiche di multimodalità e multilinearità, e analizza le lingue dei segni sulla base del modèle sémiologique. Considerando la prospettiva dell’embodied cognition, perno della riflessione è rappresentato dalla corporeità: il concetto di corpo, in virtù del suo ruolo nella costruzione del senso, viene posto in stretta correlazione con il concetto di ritmo, inteso alla maniera di H. Meschonnic. La riflessione sul corpo conduce al riconoscimento del ruolo della sensorialità all’interno della traduzione in lingua dei segni, consentendo di ipotizzare una «costruzione sinestesica del senso». L’ipotesi viene altresì sostenuta tenendo conto della traduzione in lingua dei segni tattile, in cui il dialogo fra sensi raggiunge il suo apice. Lo studio si sofferma in prevalenza sulla traduzione letteraria, con particolare attenzione alla poesia; alla riflessione teorica corrisponde la pratica di traduzione. Il corpus su cui si lavora prevede traduzione bidirezionale: da una parte due poesie in lingua vocale (L’Infinito di G. Leopardi e Les chats di C. Baudelaire) vengono tradotte verso due differenti lingue segnate (LIS, Lingua dei Segni Italiana, e LSF, Langue des Signes Française), dall’altra una poesia in LIS (Musica di G. Giuranna) viene tradotta verso l’italiano. La sperimentazione pratica consente di osservare l’applicabilità concreta delle strategie discusse

Geophysical characterization Quehue Basin, La Pampa province

La cuenca de Quehué se reconoce como una faja continua de valores negativos de anomalías gravimétricas de Bouguer, muy estrecha y elongada, que se ubica en el este de la provincia de la Pampa. Se desarrolla a lo largo de unos 300 km con una orientación N35ºO, desde Luan Toro al norte, pasando por Quehué y Abramo, hasta la Laguna Colorada Grande al sur. En base a los resultados geofísicos, se considera que está limitada por importantes fallas y que se trata de una cuenca tipo rift similar a la de General Levalle. Se considera que esta cuenca forma parte del sistema de rifts pampeanos de la Argentina, en conjunto con la cuenca de Macachín con la que se relaciona genéticamente. En el área comprendida en esta investigación se observan máximos y mínimos gravimétricos relativos de diferente magnitud que se asocian con cambios en la profundidad del basamento. En la cuenca se reconocen seis depocentros que varían en extensión y espesor sedimentario. Aunque sólo se ha confirmado la presencia de sedimentitas cretácicas, es posible que el relleno inicial de la cuenca haya comenzado en el jurásico y esté apoyado, en parte, sobre sedimentos paleozoicos. Las variaciones en los datos gravimétricos y magnéticos a ambos lados de la cuenca señalan diferencias en la composición del basamentoQuehué basin is a continuous belt of negative values of Bouguer anomalies that are located in the east of the province of La Pampa. It is very narrow and spreads along 300 km, with an orientation N35°W, from: Luan Toro in the north, through Quehué and Abramo, Laguna Colorada Grande in the south. Based on geophysical results, it is believed to be limited by major faults and that is a rift basin similar to General Levalle’s. It is part of the pampeano rift system of Argentina; parallel and genetically associated to the Macachin basin. The area studied in this research includes maximum and minimum gravity of different magnitudes associated with changes in basement depth. In Quehue basin six depocenters are recognized, they vary in extension and sediment thickness. Although only the presence of Cretaceous sediments was confirmed, it is possible that initial filling of basin has begun in the Jurassic and is overlying, in part, on Paleozoic sediments. Variations in gravity and magnetic data in both sides of the basin show differences in basement composition.Fil: de Elorriaga, Elena E.. Universidad Nacional de La Pampa. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales; ArgentinaFil: Kostadinoff, Jose. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Bahía Blanca. Instituto Geológico del Sur; Argentina. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Departamento de Física; ArgentinaFil: Raniolo, Luis Ariel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Bahía Blanca. Instituto Argentino de Oceanografía (i); Argentina. Universidad Nacional del Sur; Argentin

Earth gravity and magnetic field anomalies in the Sierra of Socoscora, San Luis province

La sierra de Socoscora se ubica en forma meridiana y se manifiesta como un escalón al noroeste de la Sierra Grande de San Luis. En la sierra de Socoscora las rocas del basamento están representadas por metamorfitas de alto grado con escasos afloramientos de metabasitas. Las mediciones del campo gravitatorio y magnético indican la presencia de un volumen mayor de estas rocas en su subsuelo. Los excesos de masa en esta sierra se hallan definidas por anomalías gravimétricas de Bouguer (resi duales positivas) similares a las encontradas en la Sierra Grande de San Luis. La magnetometría indica, a partir de las respuestas pos itivas, la existencia de rocas máficas con concentraciones anómalas de minerales magnéticos.The Sierra de Socoscora is a north – south trending mountain range, located nortwest of the Sierra Grande of San Luis. The basament is constituted by high grade metamorphic rocks with few associated metabasites. Earth gravity and magnetic field measurements are indicative of the presence of bigger volumes of mafic rocks below the surface, which carry anomalous concentrations of ferromagnetic and/or paramagnetic minerals (magnetite and/or sulfides). An excess of mass below this Sierra is shown by Bouguer gravimetric anomalie s with magnitudes similar to those measured in the Sierra Grande de San Luis. Positive magnetic anomalies are indicative of the presence of mafic rocks with anomalous concentrations of magnetic minerals.Fil: Kostadinoff, Jose. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Bahía Blanca. Instituto Geológico del Sur. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Departamento de Geología. Instituto Geológico del Sur; ArgentinaFil: Bjerg, Ernesto Alfredo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Bahía Blanca. Instituto Geológico del Sur. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Departamento de Geología. Instituto Geológico del Sur; ArgentinaFil: Raniolo, Luis Ariel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Bahía Blanca. Instituto Argentino de Oceanografía. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Instituto Argentino de Oceanografía; ArgentinaFil: Santiago, Emiliano. Universidad Nacional del Sur; Argentin

DDT - Drug Discovery Tool: a fast and intuitive graphics user interface for Docking and Molecular Dynamics analysis.

Abstract Motivation The ligand/protein binding interaction is typically investigated by docking and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. In particular, docking-based virtual screening (VS) is used to select the best ligands from database of thousands of compounds, while MD calculations assess the energy stability of the ligand/protein binding complexes. Considering the broad use of these techniques, it is of great demand to have one single software that allows a combined and fast analysis of VS and MD results. With this in mind, we have developed the Drug Discovery Tool (DDT) that is an intuitive graphics user interface able to provide structural data and physico-chemical information on the ligand/protein interaction. Results DDT is designed as a plugin for the Visual Molecular Dynamics (VMD) software and is able to manage a large number of ligand/protein complexes obtained from AutoDock4 (AD4) docking calculations and MD simulations. DDT delivers four main outcomes: i) ligands ranking based on an energy score; ii) ligand ranking based on a ligands' conformation cluster analysis; iii) identification of the aminoacids forming the most occurrent interactions with the ligands; iv) plot of the ligands' center-of-mass coordinates in the Cartesian space. The flexibility of the software allows saving the best ligand/protein complexes using a number of user-defined options. Availability and implementation DDT_site_1 (alternative DDT_site_2); the DDT tutorial movie is available here. Supplementary information Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online

Activity budget and movement patterns of Brown Swiss and Alpine Grey lactating cows during summer grazing in alpine pastures

We used GPS tracking to monitor the grazing patterns of Brown Swiss and Alpine grey lactating cows on an alpine summer pasture (2038 m a.s.l.; SD = 146) in the Dolomites. The pasture (171 ha) was managed with a continuous grazing system (0.52 LU/ha) with morning and evening milking in the barn, guided grazing during the ‘day’, and free grazing at ‘night’. GPS positions were collected from 8 Brown Swiss multiparous and 9 Alpine Grey (4 primiparous and 5 multiparous) cows every two minutes. We inferred behaviours (grazing, resting, walking) from movement metrics, activity sensors and direct behavioural observations. After excluding milking periods, the cows grazed for 8 h/d, rested 10–11 h/d, and walked for 1.5/d. Grazing extended into late evening after milking, and resting prevailed throughout the ‘night’ until the morning milking. When grazing and resting, cows mainly used grasslands as the preferred habitat, but forest and sparse shrub were also used remarkably without consistent negative or positive selection. The pasture use was highly heterogeneous, with higher animal loads close to the barn, especially at night, and in areas with gentler slopes. Alpine Grey primiparous cows were less limited by slope and distance from the barn in their movement but were more selective in habitat use than multiparous cows. Differences between multiparous cows of the two breeds were less marked. Further studies should help understand the internal and external drivers of cattle grazing patterns to devise management practices combining animals’ productivity and welfare with the conservation of the grassland ecosystem services

Folate-Functionalization Enhances Cytotoxicity of Multivalent DNA Nanocages on Triple-Negative Breast Cancer Cells

DNA is an excellent programmable polymer for the generation of self-assembled multivalent nanostructures useful for biomedical applications. Herein, we developed (i) folate-functionalized nanocages (Fol-NC), very efficiently internalized by tumor cells overexpressing the alpha isoform of the folate receptor; (ii) AS1411-linked nanocages (Apt-NC), internalized through nucleolin, a protein overexpressed in the cell surface of many types of cancers; and (iii) nanostructures that harbor both folate and AS1411 aptamer functionalization (Fol-Apt-NC). We analyzed the specific miRNA silencing activity of all types of nanostructures harboring miRNA sequestering sequences complementary to miR-21 and the cytotoxic effect when loaded with doxorubicin in a drug-resistant triple-negative breast cancer cell line. We demonstrate that the presence of folate as a targeting ligand increases the efficiency in miR-21 silencing compared to nanocages functionalized with AS1411. Double-functionalized nanocages (Fol-Apt-NC), loaded with doxorubicin, resulted in an increase of over 51% of the cytotoxic effect on MDA-MB-231 cells compared to free doxorubicin, demonstrating, besides selectivity, the ability of nanocages to overcome Dox chemoresistance. The higher efficiency of the folate-functionalized nanocages is due to the way of entrance, which induces more than four times higher intracellular stability and indicates that the folate-mediated route of cell entry is more efficient than the nucleolin-mediated one when both folate and AS1411 modifications are present

Membrane cholesterol modulates LOX-1 shedding in endothelial cells

The lectin-like oxidized low-density lipoprotein receptor-1 (LOX-1) is a scavenger receptor responsible for ox-LDL recognition, binding and internalization, which is up-regulated during atherogenesis. Its activation triggers endothelium dysfunction and induces inflammation. A soluble form of LOX-1 has been identified in the human blood and its presence considered a biomarker of cardiovascular diseases. We recently showed that cholesterol-lowering drugs inhibit ox-LDL binding and internalization, rescuing the ox-LDL induced apoptotic phenotype in primary endothelial cells. Here we have investigated the molecular bases of human LOX-1 shedding by metalloproteinases and the role of cell membrane cholesterol on the regulation of this event by modulating its level with MβCD and statins. We report that membrane cholesterol affects the release of different forms of LOX-1 in cells transiently and stably expressing human LOX-1 and in a human endothelial cell line (EA.hy926). In particular, our data show that i) cholesterol depletion triggers the release of LOX-1 in exosomes as a full-length transmembrane isoform and as a truncated ectodomain soluble fragment (sLOX-1); ii) endothelial cells secrete a soluble metalloproteinase which induces LOX-1 ectodomain shedding and iii) long term statins treatment enhances sLOX-1 proteolytic shedding